Syria cracks down on press; attacks in Libya, elsewhere

New York, March 28, 2011--Facing the nationwide spread of
political unrest, Syrian authorities barred three Reuters journalists from
reporting, blocked journalistic access to a hotbed of political dissent,
censored a critical satellite station, and detained a political blogger. The widespread
repression in Syria came on the same weekend that Libyan security agents
forcibly barred a woman in Tripoli from giving journalists her account of being
raped and abused by militiamen loyal to leader Muammar Qaddafi. Attacks on the
press were also reported in Iraq, Mauritania, and Jordan.

"The rate and gravity of attacks against journalists in the
Middle East and North Africa are staggering," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle
East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect
Journalists. "This has never been a region friendly to independent reporting,
but with upward of 300 separate attacks on the press documented by CPJ in less
than three months, one begins to see just how dire the situation has become for
journalists in the region."

Syrian authorities today expelled Reuters producer Ayat
Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji, both Lebanese nationals, after detaining
them for two days. A Syrian official said the two journalists were arrested
near the Lebanese border because they were not authorized to work in the
country and were filming "in an area where filming is not permitted." On Friday, Syrian authorities revoked the press
credentials of Reuters senior correspondent Khaled Oweis for "false" coverage
and directed him to leave the country, the news agency reported. Reuters said it
stood by its coverage.

On Friday, security forces prevented local and foreign
journalists from accessing the southern city of Daraa, the birthplace of the political
unrest now sweeping Syria, effectively preventing news coverage of ongoing protests
and the government's heavy-handed response. Assaf Abboud, a BBC Arabic service correspondent,
said on the air that authorities had asked journalists who had made it into the
city to leave it before the conclusion of midday prayers on Friday. Throughout
the region, protests have been most intense after Friday prayers. Journalists
returned to Damascus, the BBC correspondent said. Syrian authorities had blocked
access to Daraa on the previous weekend as well, CPJ research
shows.

The signal of Orient TV, a private, Dubai-based satellite
channel, has been jammed in Syria since Friday, according to Ghassan Abboud, the
station's director and owner. Orient has extensively covered protests in Daraa.
Last week, the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi reported
that Syrian officials have made harassing and threatening phone calls to Orient
TV employees, suggesting the journalists could be treated as spies and their
families persecuted.

Syrian blogger Ahmad Hadifa, known online as Ahmad Abu Al-Kheir, was
arrested by security services in Damascus on Thursday, according
to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and regional news websites. Hadifa had
been previously held without charge for six days in February, according to a post on his blog.

Buthaina Shaaban, a senior presidential adviser, took a
hard-line stance regarding news media coverage during a press conference on
Thursday. "The problem is with some media organs who wanted to exaggerate
the figures, who wanted to exaggerate what happened," said Shaaban, referring
to protests in Daraa. "There was a lot of exaggeration and many unspecified
things that were said by news media. And we could see that they were not
willing to take the news as it exactly was." Shaaban added: "Syrian state television
tells the truth; no one else."

In Libya on Saturday, a visibly bruised and agitated woman entered
the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli, where most foreign reporters are staying, claiming
that she had been tortured and raped by 15 Qaddafi militiamen over a two-day
period. She was forcibly restrained by government minders and hotel staff, who
drove her away to an undisclosed location. When journalists tried to intervene
to hear the woman's story, they were "punched or knocked to the ground," The Washington
Postreported.
A government minder pulled a handgun, and a CNN camera that recorded the mayhem
was smashed in an effort to destroy the footage, according to numerous news
accounts. Despite the agents' efforts, some of the
footage made its way onto newscasts across the globe.

Elsewhere in the region:

In Jordan on Friday, journalists and bloggers were attacked
as security forces used violence to disperse a reform-oriented demonstration in
the capital, Amman. Al-Jazeera cameraman Ahmad Najeeb was hit while filming the
demonstration and an ensuing crackdown by security forces. His camera was
briefly seized and the footage deleted, Najeeb told CPJ. Al-Arabiya
correspondent Saad al-Silawi was pushed while he and his crew were filming a
live segment and were forced to stop their recording midway, al-Silawi told
CPJ. Blogger Mohamad Omar was beaten by security forces, resulting in a broken
arm, Omar told CPJ. It was not clear to him whether he had been beaten simply
because he was a participant in the demonstration or if he was targeted in
reprisal for his critical online writings.
Aziza Ali, a reporter with the daily Al-Ghad, was beaten by security
forces as she was reporting and taking pictures of the demonstration and the
government's response, she told CPJ. She suffered from a broken pelvic bone and
was taken to a hospital. Mutaz Naawash and Mohamad Abu Eid, both reporters for
Hayat Radio, were also assaulted during the demonstration, Ali told CPJ. She
said that both had been hurt but could not be certain of the extent of their
injuries.

On Friday, Nidal Mansour, the executive director of the
local press freedom group Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists, condemned
the anti-press attacks in an interview with Al-Jazeera. In a letter to the
interior minister, dated Sunday, Mansour said he received a threatening phone
call following his interview with Al-Jazeera.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, three journalists were fired upon in
separate episiodes, according
to news reports. Barqi Islam, a reporter for the satellite television station
Speda in Amedi, Dohuk province, was attacked while driving home on Tuesday, news
reports and local journalists said. Unidentified gunmen in a vehicle opened
fire on his car, which was hit several times, but Islam was unharmed. Hangaw
Hashm, a reporter for the opposition weekly Rojname, was driving out of
a shopping center in Arbil on Wednesday when unidentified gunmen in a vehicle
also opened fire on his car. Halgurd Qader, editor-in-chief of Zanar, a
weekly magazine close to the Kurdish Democratic Party, was shot on Friday in
his home in Sulaymania, according to Rahman Gharib of the Metro Center, a local
press freedom group, and news accounts. Unidentified gunmen entered Qader's
home, shut down the electricity, and shot him twice in the abdomen. Qader was hospitalized
and was in stable condition today.

Hashm told CPJ that attacks and intimidation attempts
against journalists have increased since antigovernment protests started in
Iraqi Kurdistan in mid-February. "We have received many threats through mobile
text messages and phone calls asking us to refrain from reporting on
demonstrations or face death and expose our families to attacks."

In
Mauritania, police attacked five journalists covering antigovernment protests
on Friday, El-Housseine Ould Meddou, president of the Mauritanian Journalists' Syndicate, told CPJ. Hoeba
Ould Cheikh Sidati, a reporter for the news website Akhbar; Ahmed Ould
Wadia, a reporter for the independent daily Siraj; Chenof Ould Malouks,
a reporter for the news website Tawari; Samekh Ould Naji, a reporter for
independent weekly Al-Hurriya; and Sayid Ould Mahmoudi, a reporter for the
news website Atlas were beaten and had their materials confiscated by
the police. Later that day, the city's police chief apologized to
the journalists and issued orders that their equipment and footage be returned.
The syndicate lodged an official complaint with the police to investigate the
incident and hold the perpetrators accountable.